AirPen™: A Wearable Device for Measuring Personal Air Pollution Exposure

At a Glance

Researchers at Colorado State University have developed a wearable monitor called the AirPen™ that measures personal exposure to air pollution. The device tracks both airborne particles and gases at the same time. It is small, quiet, and easy to wear during daily activities. Recent studies show it can monitor many people at once, even across an entire workplace in a single day. This helps improve how we understand where and when people are exposed to pollution.

Background

Air pollution exposure is linked to serious health problems, including lung disease, cancer, and heart conditions. However, most current tools are limited because they measure only one pollutant at a time and are often expensive or difficult to use. This leads to small datasets that may not reflect real-world exposure. There is a clear need for tools that can measure multiple pollutants at once and scale to larger groups of people.

Overview

The AirPen™ is a compact wearable device that measures both particulate matter (PM) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at the same time. It collects particles on a filter and gases on a sampling tube while recording data such as particle levels, total VOCs, temperature, humidity, motion, light, and location. These measurements help link exposure levels to specific places and activities without requiring users to keep detailed logs.

The device combines several monitoring functions into one unit, reducing the need for multiple instruments. Validation studies show strong agreement with standard monitoring tools, with high correlations for key pollutants. In field testing, a small team deployed more than 80 AirPens to measure exposure for most workers in a facility in one day—far more than the 2–5 samples typically collected using traditional methods. This larger dataset improves accuracy and reduces uncertainty in exposure estimates.